Prosecutor's Disclosure of Tax Records; of Section 6103 and Rule 6(e) (4/23/11)

In Lampton v. Diaz, 639 F.3d 223 (5th Cir. 2011), decided 4/18/11, the Fifth Circuit succinctly stated the issue addressed and holding in its opening paragraph:

In Imbler v. Pachtman, 424 U.S. 409, 430 (1976), the Court held that prosecutors retain common-law immunity from suit for all actions "intimately associated with the judicial phase of the criminal process." This appeal raises the issue of whether that absolute immunity extends to a prosecutor's post-trial transfer of private federal tax records to a state ethics commission. Concluding that it does not, we affirm the denial of a motion to dismiss.

In order to understand the issues I want to discuss in this blog, it is important to have a clear fix on the facts. I will quote the Fifth Circuit's summary of the facts and procedural history, but the facts and procedural history are more nuanced. For more detail, see the district court's opinion, Lampton v. Diaz, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44738 (SD Miss. 2010). The Fifth Circuit's statement of facts is:
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Grand Juries Are Not for Trial Preparation After Indictment

The Government properly uses grand juries to investigate and prepare cases for trial. But, what happens if the Government to continue using the indicting grand jury same or even some other grand jury (new or continuing) to tie up the loose ends in the indicted case? Most of us understand instinctively that that is a problem because it circumvents the discovery rules allowed in criminal cases.

This is, of course, not usually even a significant risk in most tax crimes cases. But, in the larger cases it could be an issue.
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